


Pinky Promise!

by random_contemplations



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Friends to Enemies, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Raylla, Sort Of, only minor characters though, they're not witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_contemplations/pseuds/random_contemplations
Summary: Scylla would rather not fit into any of these stereotypes but sometimes doing so was easier. And no, she wasn’t waiting for someone to come along and fix her with their ‘love’ because Scylla wasn’t broken. She might’ve thought she was broken in the past, but someone once told her that no one is ever broken, they’re just in pain.So now? Now she was just wishing for high school to be over so she could leave town and completely forget about everything that had happened over the last five-or-so years.Or...A highschool au from Scylla's perspective where Raella and Scylla are childhood friends, drift apart when high school starts, and then are brought together again by a school project pairing. Cliche, I know but everyone secretly loves a good cliche!
Relationships: Raelle Collar & Scylla Ramshorn, Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 29
Kudos: 130





	1. Cool Weird

Everyone knows about the overused high school stereotypes. Be it the sports star whose father is just a little bit too overbearing, or the popular girls who everyone hates, the nerds who need to have some massive makeover to 'become' attractive, or the one gay kid whose bully ends up being closeted themselves.

Bottom line was, Scylla really didn’t like those stereotypes but what she disliked, even more, was that she definitely played into them.

Popular party girl with a tragic backstory? Check.

Popular girl, who never actually opens up to her 'friends'? Check.

Could be top of her class if she actually applied herself but doesn't because she hasn't been motivated since middle school? These are starting to get a little too personal.

Scylla would rather not fit into any of these stereotypes but sometimes doing so was easier. And no, she wasn’t waiting for someone to come along and fix her with their ‘love’ because Scylla wasn’t broken. She might’ve thought she was broken in the past, but someone once told her that no one is ever broken, they’re just in pain.

So now? Now she was just wishing for high school to be over so she could leave town and completely forget about everything that had happened over the last five-or-so years.

* * *

**Present Day, Biology Class**

Scylla didn’t know why she came to her Biology classes anymore; it wasn’t like she ever enjoyed them and she didn’t even have any friends in her class to distract when the boredom kicked in. That’s probably why she had been scribbling down song lyrics on her page for the last half an hour, rather than listening to her teacher, Ms Alder, drone on about… whatever it was she was supposed to be learning about. That, in turn, was probably why she became very confused when her name had suddenly been called out.

Scylla whipped her head up, expecting some sort of lecture about how she should be listening and how Biology was one of the most important subjects. Instead, Ms Alder simply kept listing names off a list, a list Scylla wasn't sure why she was on.

"What the hell is going on?" She whispered harshly to the girl sitting next to her, feeling slightly guilty as the girl winced at the sudden elbow to her bicep.

“Jesus, that was a bit unnecessary no?" She whispered back, not taking her eyes off the front of the classroom. 

“Sorry,” Scylla did genuinely mean it but the girl just sighed and rubbed her arm.

“She’s putting us into partners for the class project”

“Class project?” She really should pay more attention.

"Yeah, you know the typical project which doesn't actually make up that much of our overall grade but that, for some reason, teachers obsess over and insist on putting us into pairs for 'team-building' but no one ever makes friends through those things unless you're in a badly written coming of age film." How this girl was managing to speak so clearly whilst whispering _and_ taking notes, Scylla had no idea but she had just developed some respect for this random kid.

“Wow, that was very descriptive thanks. You don’t know who I’m paired with do you?”

“Raelle”

“Sorry?” Scylla was starting to feel more and more stupid with every word that came out of her mouth; the eye rolls she kept getting from this kid, whose name she couldn’t quite remember, weren’t exactly helping her either.

“You’re with Raelle, you know blonde that sits at the front, kind of my friend so like maybe pay more attention when you’re working on this project.”

_Crap_.

Scylla wasn’t sure if her respect for this girl was increasing or decreasing with every word _she_ said so she simply huffed and turned her attention to the back of Raelle’s head.

* * *

**12 years ago, Scylla’s first day of Elementary School (aged 5)**

"Good morning class, I hope you're all excited for your first day!" Scylla's first thoughts of her first-ever teacher were that she was loud and very smiley.

As she looked around, Scylla noticed that all of the other kids were happily agreeing with the teacher, asking questions over each other and generally being just as loud as Miss Graves was. This was until her eyes landed on a small blonde girl sitting at the back of the group, she didn’t seem interested in what the teacher was saying and instead was fiddling with something in her hands.

Scylla thought the girl looked very pretty and was instantly curious about what she had in her hands. Without actually having to stand up, she managed to slowly shuffle over to the girl who didn’t seem to acknowledge her presence, even when she was sat right next to her. Scylla tried, in vain, to peek over the girl’s shoulder at what she was holding but the intriguing blonde simply held it closer to her chest.

“I’m Scylla” It was the least she could try, and her mom had told her that it was important to try and make new friends.

The blonde girl looked at her cautiously before smiling slightly, “I’m Raelle”

“What’s in your hands?” Scylla was always a curious child so no one could really blame her for getting straight to the point.

Raelle furrowed her brow slightly, as if contemplating whether she should share this intriguing secret, before she opened her hands and stretched her arms out towards Scylla to show her a golden chain with what looked like a bird claw, carved out of matching gold and holding a gemstone, attached to it.

“That’s weird” Scylla regretted what she had said the moment she had, the smile on the blonde’s lips instantly vanished and she snatched the necklace back against her chest, turning away from Scylla.

“It’s still cool though…. cool weird” Scylla wiggled her eyebrows for good measure, hoping to get Raelle to at least look at her again and it seemed to do the trick as the blonde tried to hide a giggle.

“My mommy gave it to me” Raelle let her hands drop in her lap but kept her focus firmly on their teacher. “It’ll keep me safe”

Scylla took a closer look at the necklace, it still looked weird in her opinion but if it could keep her new friend safe, it must be pretty cool.

“Who’s going to keep _it_ safe though?” Scylla stated, watching as Raelle’s forehead crinkled yet again.

“My mommy didn’t say it needed to be safe” Raelle turned her full attention to Scylla now, looking genuinely concerned for her poor necklace.

"Well how about I keep it safe? Scylla the... keep safer of the necklace!" She puffed her chest out and placed her hands firmly on her hips, even though she wasn't sure if keep safer was even a word, but it had the desired effect anyway as Raelle let out another small giggle. "That way I can keep it safe and make sure that it's safe to keep you safe."

Raelle seemed to ponder the thought for a moment, her small fingers rubbing at the necklace.

“Okay, and I will also keep you safe so that we are all safe, pinky promise!” She said it with such sincerity that it made Scylla laugh and soon they had both dissolved into fits of giggles, only stopping when the teacher scolded them for being too loud.

“Do you want to sit with me?” Raelle asked after a few moments in silence.

“Hmm?” Scylla replied having drifted into a daydream.

Raelle slipped her necklace over her head as she stood up, turning to offer her hand out to Scylla. "Miss Graves said to sit at tables to we can get to know people, do you want to sit with me?”

Scylla smiled brightly, accepting the hand “Of course, I have to always sit with you so I can do my important job!”

Raelle smiled brightly, not letting go of Scylla’s hand until they were sat at a table towards the back of the classroom.

* * *

**Present Day, Biology Class**

“Right everyone, I’ll give you these last five minutes to get together with your partners and sort out how you're going to break up these next two weeks" Ms Alder's voice broke Scylla from yet another daydream and she cursed under her breath as she realised she had been staring at the back of Raelle's head the entire time.

"Okay Scylla, keep it together" She muttered, tucking her hair behind her ears.

As she looked back up she realised Raelle had moved, she tried to scan the room to find her but was stopped halfway through by a small "Hey" from behind her.


	2. Maths is just boringggg

**Present Day, Biology Class**

“Hey”

Scylla turned and was greeted by a hesitant smile and piercing blue eyes.

“Hi”

It had been a long time since she had been this close to Raelle, let alone talked to her and whilst Scylla could clearly see fragments of the girl she used to know, most of that had been covered by layers of a person she was ashamed to admit she knew nothing about.

“So I’m assuming that I’ll just do most of the work and then email it to you before the deadline to check over it?” Raelle was pulling her phone out of her bag, no longer making eye contact with Scylla and definitely no longer smiling.

“Ummm I mean I don’t mind-”

“-Great, just put your number in my phone so I can keep you up to date with what I’m doing in case Ms Alder asks us in class.” Scylla took the phone from Raelle’s outstretched hand, typing her number in before handing it back.

“If that’s everything, I kind of want to go get an early lunch so I’ll text you whenever.” Raelle turned to leave and Scylla was seriously concerned at her lack of ability to form a sentence.

“Wait!” She shook herself slightly and darted forward, grabbing Raelle’s wrist as she turned to leave.

Raelle turned back slowly, eyeing Scylla’s hand on her wrist warily. Scylla immediately let go, cursing herself mentally at being an idiot again.

“I- never mind, sorry”

Raelle frowned slightly but turned away and walked off in the direction of the door all the same.

It wasn’t like Scylla didn’t want to help, she did, but she knew that helping out would mean she and Raelle would have to actually speak to each other and she wasn’t even sure how to do that anymore.

She watched as the girl, whose name she still couldn't remember, threw her arm around Raelle and then threw her head back in laughter, presumably at something that had just been said. Scylla felt weird, she told herself that Raelle was a different person now, that she couldn't miss her anymore after so long. But, as she began to pack her things away, the nagging feeling in the back of her mind refused to go away.

* * *

**11 years ago, Scylla’s second year of Elementary School (aged 6)**

“Rae? You in here?” Scylla pushed their classroom door open carefully, peeking her head around it before spotting her friend sat in the corner, knees pulled up to her chest and tears streaking down her face.

Scylla moved slowly across the room, careful not to upset her friend even more. Raelle had fallen over and scraped her knees and elbows but once they had been bandaged up, she had run off, leaving Scylla to look in all of their hiding spots in search of her friend until she had winded up at the classroom.

Scylla wasn’t really sure what to do, she’d seen Raelle cry before but was normally able to make her laugh with a funny joke and a wiggle of her eyebrows, neither of which had worked earlier when she had tried.

“I-I b-broke it” Raelle stuttered out before a fresh wave of tears flowed down her chubby cheeks.

Scylla looked closer at the necklace and saw that the chain had broken in two, the charm no longer secure.

“Which bit keeps you safe?” Scylla asked, suddenly having an idea.

“Hmm?” Raelle looked up at her friend for the first time, sniffling and wiping her tears away quickly.

"Well, it's the charm that keeps you safe right? Not the chain?”

“Well yeah I guess but it’s still broken, what if it doesn’t work anymore?” Raelle’s sniffles only made Scylla feel more sorry for her friend, she desperately wanted to cheer her up somehow.

“Let me fix it” Scylla smiled at her friend and held out a hand.

“How?” Raelle countered, handing the necklace over anyway.

“Just watch.”

Scylla carefully placed the necklace in her lap as she reached to undo her own. She carefully removed the letter S charm from her own necklace and replaced it with Raelle’s charm.

“Turn around, let me put it back on you” Scylla instructed.

She carefully did the clasp up and sat back, happy that she had managed to fix the problem.

Raelle looked at the new necklace quickly before turning around and throwing herself at Scylla, wrapping her arms around her neck.

“You fixed it!” She cried happily and Scylla’s smile grew just as wide as her friend’s.

“I said I would protect it didn’t I? Pinky promise!” Scylla hugged her friend back, not loosening her grip until Raelle did so first.

“Thank you Scyll, you’re the best!”

“You’re welcome, should we go play again?” Scylla asked, standing up and offering Raelle her hand.

“Sure,” Raelle accepted the hand up and tucked her necklace beneath the neckline of her top. “Bet you can’t beat me outside!” She laughed as she sped past Scylla, shouting ‘hurry up’ all the way down the corridor.

* * *

**Present Day, The Cafeteria**

“Scylla seriously what is up with you today? Did you even get any sleep last night?”

Scylla swatted away the hand that was poking at her cheek and turned to face her friends in annoyance.

"Thanks Porter, you look great too," Scylla said with a roll of her eyes.

Porter was the first friend she’d made at high school and he had introduced her to the rest of his friends, the group she was currently sat with.

“You keep staring off into the distance like you’re some wise old lady”

The group all laughed and Scylla managed to crack a smile in spite of herself.

Byron, Porter’s best friend, was sat across from her and gave her a sympathetic smile before a rogue grape was thrown at him and he turned his attention away.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Porter asked in a quieter voice

“Yeah, just having a weird day I guess” Scylla shrugged. She might not be exactly close with many of the people she hung around with but Porter was one of the good ones, always looking out for her and making sure she wasn’t falling into her habit of isolating herself.

“So it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you and Raelle Collar are partners for your biology project?" Porter looked pleased with the look of shock on Scylla's face before she managed to shake it off.

“What? How?” She shouldn’t really be surprised that Porter knew, Byron knew every tiny piece of drama at the school and anything that Byron knew, Porter knew.

“Byron may have overheard Tally and Raelle talking about it earlier,”

So that was the girl's name, Tally, Scylla wasn't sure how she could forget seeing as she was the only person Gerrit, resident golden boy, ever talked about.

“I mean it’s kind of awkward yeah but she said she’d do all the work anyway so it’s no big deal” Scylla took a bite of the sandwich she had been neglecting, partially to avoid any follow-up questions Porter came up with.

“I don’t know why you don’t try to fix things with her, she clearly means a lot to you seeing as you’re hung up on it after what? Three years?”

So Porter obviously did have follow-up questions and although he might have a point, Scylla just shrugged and gestured vaguely to her full mouth until he rolled his eyes and turned away. 

Three years was a long time, long enough for both parties to have changed considerably.

Scylla decided she should probably pay attention to the conversation that was happening, but her mind wandered and she found herself scribbling more song lyrics down, this time onto the inside of her arm.

* * *

**10 years ago, Scylla’s third year at Elementary School (aged 7)**

“Scylla, how many times do I have to tell you not to doodle, you’re supposed to keep these books neat!” Scylla’s teacher stood over her shoulder, her tone stern.

“Sorry Miss” Scylla turned the page, continuing her sums on the new one.

“It’s okay, just try to keep doodling for free time okay?” The teacher softened her tone and moved on, making her way around the classroom.

"Were you doodling again?” Raelle leaned across the table, flicking the page back to look at the drawings.

“I didn’t mean to, maths is just boringggg” Scylla pouted, causing Raelle to laugh lightly as she sat back in her chair.

"Well, I think they’re pretty, even if it makes your book messy! You should be an artist when you’re grown up, like your daddy” Raelle continued with her sums, looking up at Scylla every so often.

“Thanks Rae but I like writing better, I want to be a singer like the people on the radio”

“I think you’d be a great singer, and you’re pretty, all singers have to be pretty.”

“No they don’t” This time it was Scylla’s turn to laugh. “They just have to be good at singing, silly”

“Oh,” Raelle frowned slightly. “My friend Glory said all singers have to be pretty”

“Well Glory sounds silly, you should just be friends with me!” Scylla grinned and Raelle stuck her tongue out at her in return.

“Girls, don’t forget to focus on your sums please, if you need any help you can ask me” The teacher was back over Scylla’s shoulder who wiggled her eyebrows at Raelle, causing the girl to snort as she tried not to laugh. Their teacher just sighed and move on again.

“When you’re a proper singer you have to sing all your songs to me before anyone else can hear them, okay?” Raelle was stating more than she was asking and her seriousness made Scylla laugh quietly.

“Pinky promise” She replied, holding out her pinky so that Raelle could interlock her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the love on the first chapter! Hope you like this one just as much.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments or drop me a message: my Tumblr is @random-contemplations
> 
> Next chapter will be up next weekend :)


	3. Nugget

**Present Day, The weekend, Scylla’s home**

Scylla woke with a start, her breathing ragged and her palms clammy. She took a few deep breaths to slow her heart rate and rocked herself slowly, chin pressed into her tucked up knees.

The alarm clock next to her bed flashed 5am as she took in more gulps of air, pulling a blanket tightly around her shoulders as she counted the breaths, in and out.

When she felt her heart rate return to something resembling normal, Scylla ran her hands through her hair and sighed. She made a mental note to bring the nightmare up with her therapist as she climbed slowly out of bed, making her way to the bathroom and turning the shower on.

Nightmares had been a common occurrence for Scylla for many years, but for the past couple, they had been few and far in between, usually rearing their ugly head whenever she was particularly stressed or whenever it got close to the anniversary.

As the hot water washed over her, Scylla felt her muscles start to relax. Showers had always been relaxing, granted they couldn’t help the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that usually lasted the whole day, but they did help her feel a little more human. Letting the water run over her, teasing out any last knots in her muscles and quietly grounding her, made the rest of the day about as calm as it could be after a restless night.

When she was dried and dressed, Scylla took refuge on her bedroom floor; bundled up in blankets and surrounded by pillows, she took out a notebook and tried to channel all the feelings of the night onto the page.

* * *

**Nine years ago, Scylla’s fourth year at Elementary School (aged 8)**

Scylla hurried into class, hanging up her coat and putting away her bag as quick as she could, she was eager to see her friend and tell her all about the neighbour’s cat that she had been playing with over the weekend.

Scylla paused when she realised Raelle wasn’t in her seat.

Raelle was always in first.

She tried to ignore it, deciding she must just be late, and sat down in her usual seat. Scylla busied herself with some colouring-in, glancing at the door every time it opened to see if it was Raelle. She only became more confused when the teacher started taking the register and didn't call Raelle's name out and even more so when it got to recess, and she was still sat on her own.

Scylla wasn’t really sure what to do with herself; she was used to running around with Raelle, playing whatever game the blonde had dreamed up for them that day. Now, she found herself standing at the side of the courtyard and watching as her classmates ran around without her.

As boredom started to kick in, Scylla decided to approach Glory, a girl Raelle had mentioned before.

"Hey," She said, standing in front of where Glory and her friends were skipping.

“Hi, do you want a go?”

“Yes please,” Scylla replied with a small smile.

“I’m Glory”

“I’m Scylla” She took the rope from Glory and slowly started to get into a rhythm.

“Raelle said you’re her best friend!”

“Yeah, me and Rae usually play together but I don’t know where she is.”

“I asked Miss Izadora and she said a family issue, whatever that means.”

"Hmmm, I'm not sure" Scylla frowned in thought and decided two things. One, Glory was actually pretty nice, and two, she was going to have to do some detective work to figure out where Raelle was.

* * *

**Present Day, The weekend, Scylla’s home**

“Scylla? Are you up?”

Soft knocking on her door drew Scylla attention away from the tv show she was watching.

“Yeah I am”

“Oh good, I made pancakes if you want any,” Scylla’s stomach grumbled at the thought and as she inhaled, she could smell vanilla and blueberries.

“Be out in a minute!” She called and she heard her aunt walk back down the corridor.

The older woman wasn’t kidding when she said she’d made pancakes! Two massive stacks sat steaming on the counter and there was still half the batter left in the bowl.

“I messed the quantities up a bit sorry but that just means we can have them tomorrow two!” Her aunt smiled widely as she started tucking into her own stack and motioned for Scylla to do the same.

“So, any plans for today?” Scylla’s aunt asked when they had both finished.

“Not really, I have some work to do and I'll probably do some more music stuff. What about you?”

“I’ve got some shopping to do so I’ll be out for a couple hours but nothing much else.” There were a few beats of silence and then, “I heard you get up early this morning, everything alright?”

Scylla sighed, “Nothing special, just another nightmare”

“Would it help to talk about it?”

“Not really, just the same as it usually is, everything is fine and then the car is rolling. I’ll bring it up with my therapist though don’t worry”

“Okay, I don’t want you to feel like I’m nagging because I know you’ve got a handle on everything, I just worry about you I guess but as long as everything’s fine I’m happy.”

Scylla smiled genuinely at her aunt, she really did love her and after her parents had died, she’d been amazing. Losing your parents at any age is devastating but at 13, it had thrown Scylla through a complete loop. She remembers not speaking to anyone for weeks until her aunt, slowly but surely, managed to get through to her and Scylla felt for the first time that things might actually improve.

“I know, actually there _is_ something I did want to talk to you about. You know how the nightmares are sometimes triggered by extra stress? I think I know what it was this time.”

“Talk away dear,” Her aunt smiled, stacking the plates to one side and giving Scylla her full, undivided attention.

"Well, it's about Raelle…"

* * *

**Nine years ago, Scylla’s fourth year at Elementary School (aged 8)**

When Scylla arrived home after a full day of no Raelle, the first thing she did was ask her dad if _he_ knew where Raelle had been.

“I’ve got no idea nugget but I can ask her parents if you want?”

Scylla nodded enthusiastically before running off to look outside for her new cat friend, only giving up when she was called inside for dinner. 

At the table, Scylla was restless, bouncing her knees up and down and pushing her food around her plate instead of wolfing it down like she normally did.

“What’s wrong honey?” Her mum looked mildly perturbed by Scylla’s lack of eating and exchanged a look with her husband.

“I just want to know if Raelle is _okay_ but no one will tell me” Scylla replied, looking sheepish and staring intently at her plane of food.

"Oh nugget, I know you're worried but Raelle is fine,” Her dad spoke up, reaching across the table to stroke her cheek.

“Then why wasn’t she at school?” Scylla pouted, abandoning her fork and instead crossing her arms in defiance.

Her parents shared another look and her dad sighed, pushing his chair out slightly and motioning for Scylla to come and sit on his knee.

“Raelle wasn’t at school today because her mummy has to go away for a while. She got a job in the military and has to go to a different country so Raelle was pretty upset and didn’t feel like going to school.” Her mum was rubbing loving circles on her back as her dad explained.

Scylla nodded slowly, glad at least that her friend wasn’t in any real danger. “What’s the military?”

“Not something you need to worry about at the moment Scylla, but it can be quite dangerous which is why Raelle is very upset so make sure you’re extra nice to her tomorrow okay?”

“I’m always extra nice to Raelle mummy, she’s my best friend!”

Her parents laughed lightly at Scylla’s sincerity, kissing her on the head respectively before they all finished their dinner.

* * *

**Present Day, The weekend, Scylla’s home**

After Scylla had finished explaining the new situation with Raelle, her aunt had gone out shopping and she had made her way back to her bedroom to do some work.

She was half-way through some reading for English when her phone chimed from her bed. Trying her best to ignore it, Scylla kept reading the extract but after re-reading the same sentence three times she realised checking her phone might mean she could get back to work.

All notion that she would be able to just look at the message and get back to work disappeared however when Scylla actually read the message.

‘Hi it’s Raelle’

Well shit.

‘cool, I’ll save ur number’

Scylla could feel her awkwardness even through text but she had no idea why it was so bad, a few little texts were much better than having to endure the actual awkwardness of face-to-face conversations. She stared at the screen for a few minutes more before dropping her phone back on the bed and flopping down beside it with a groan.

Another chime not two minutes later read:

‘just thought I’d let u know that I’ve started on the project’

And then.

‘it’s about cells if you weren’t sure so I’ll probably make a couple of posters about the structure and everything and then ask Ms Alder if I can use the lab to run a couple tests and use it as evidence but I’ll keep you updated on everything don’t worry’

Scylla typed and re-typed a response, torn between wanting to help out and knowing that offering to do so would mean the pair would have to meet up and talk to each other – something Scylla wasn't entirely sure she was prepared for.

‘sounds good, u sure u don’t want any help?’

That seemed like a safe bet to Scylla as she watched the grey dots pop up almost instantly.

‘nah, I can handle it’

Now Scylla was completely stuck on how to respond and so switched her phone off, looked at her English work, and decided that writing some more music wouldn't hurt.

* * *

**Nine years ago, Scylla’s fourth year at Elementary School (aged 8)**

The next day, Scylla was less enthusiastic about walking into class, of course she was happy that she would get to see Raelle, but she was unsure whether her friend would still be sad or not.

As she trailed in, she noticed that Miss Izadora was talking to Raelle at the front of the class and when the teacher looked up to see Scylla walk in, she motioned the brunette over.

“Hey Scylla, Raelle tells me you know why she wasn’t at school yesterday?” The teacher smiled kindly.

“Yeah, my daddy told me,”

“Okay good, so would you be able to just take extra good care of Raelle today and make sure everything goes well?”

“Sure, I take care of Raelle anyway” Scylla smiled proudly as her teacher nodded, turning to Raelle and checking if she needed anything else.

As the pair walked back to their seats, Scylla glanced over at Raelle who had her eyes firmly rooted to the floor and noticed she didn’t have her necklace on. She decided now probably wasn’t the best time for her detective work and instead made a mental note to bring it up later as she pulled Raelle’s chair out for her to sit in.

Raelle was unusually quiet the whole lesson and Scylla was becoming slightly worried for her friend, who hadn’t even looked up once, even when Scylla tried to joke about how boring maths was again.

By the time recess rolled around Scylla was slightly uncomfortable and struggling to think of ways to make her friend crack a smile.

“Alright everyone, you can go outside now but don’t forget to come back as quick as possible when the bell goes okay,” Miss Izadora motioned for the class to get up and Scylla jumped up with the rest of the kids, eager to get outside and hopefully cheer Raelle up.

She paused, however, when she realised her friend was still sat in her seat, making no attempt to get up and join the others.

“Are you coming Rae?” Scylla asked, offering her hand out.

Raelle seemed to ignore the hand, glancing quickly up and shaking her head before looking back at the table.

Scylla was silent for a moment, torn between going outside and wanting to stay with her best friend.

Eventually, she shook her head and pulled her chair around to sit next to Raelle. "Okay that's fine, we can just stay in here if you want"

“Don’t you want to go outside?” Raelle asked, finally looking up for more than a second.

“Nope, I’d rather be in here with you silly” Scylla grinned, “Plus Miss Izadora said I have to take extra good care of you!”

The corners of Raelle's mouth lifted slightly and the half-smile was good enough for Scylla.

"You're not wearing your necklace?" Scylla’s question was more like a statement, but her curiosity had finally gotten the best of her.

Raelle sighed and Scylla thought that was the only answer she would get until, “I gave it to my mummy, she needs it more than me now”

“You’ve still got me remember! I can protect you now instead” Scylla nudged her friend, hoping to get her to finally smile but Raelle simply nodded along.

It was now Scylla’s turn to sigh, she hated seeing her friend upset but she was quickly running out of ideas on how to get her to smile. Instead, she decided to simply wrap Raelle in a bear hug, smiling when the blonde returned the gesture, holding onto Scylla’s back as if her life depended on it.

“Don’t worry Rae, I’m a pretty good protector” Scylla said softly and Raelle squeezed her even tighter in response.

* * *

**Present Day, The weekend, Scylla’s home**

By the time dinner time came around, Scylla must have re-read the texts from Raelle at least a hundred times.

‘nah, I can handle it’

She had texted Porter at some point, but he had only laughed at her and told her to ‘get her shit together’. He was probably right. No, he was definitely right.

Scylla was overreacting and she knew it, but that didn’t mean that the logical part of her brain had any ability to silence the part which was currently going into overdrive.

Even now, sat at the table with her aunt, Scylla could only think about if she should reply or not. Her aunt could clearly tell something was up, but she had either already guessed what it was or was waiting for Scylla to bring it up.

“Not that it’s any of my business, but you should probably do whatever you’re deliberating” Her aunt finally said as they were tidying the dishes away.

Scylla looked up quickly at the other women who simply smiled knowingly, there were now two people on Scylla’s mental list of people who were _definitely_ right.

Half an hour later and Scylla had to switch off her phone to stop herself from looking at the three texts she had just sent.

‘look I know u can handle it but I’d like to help’

‘I mean u know it would help me actually understand the topic if I did the project’

‘so yh I think it would help me if I did my share of the work'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support so far!
> 
> I thought seeing as we've adopted the name 'murder nugget' for Scylla, it would only be fitting if her dad called her nugget
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments or drop me a message: my Tumblr is @random-contemplations
> 
> Apologies in advance if next week's chapter isn't exactly on time, I have exams this week so I'm not sure how much chance I'll get to write

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked this!
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments or drop me a message: my Tumblr is @random-contemplations
> 
> I'm aiming to post once a week, most likely at the weekend so look out for the next chapter soon, thanks for reading :)


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